UNITED
NATIONS,
January 21 --
Germany is
running again
for UN
Security
Council for
2019-20. By
the election
in 2018, the
2015 Person of
the Year award
to Chancellor
Angela Merkel
from TIME
Magazine may
have faded in
memory. Still,
its economy is
larger than
the two other
European
countries with
Permanent
seats on the
Council; it is
about to send
650
peacekeepers
to MINUSMA in
Mali, on top
its current UN
peacekeeping
contribution
of 150
military, 35
police and 60
civilians.

On January 21
Germany's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Harald Braun
held a
background
briefing on
his Mission's
22nd floor.
Inner City
Press asked
three
questions and
afterward got
permission to
publish the
following
responses from
Ambassador
Braun, on
Germany's
positions:

On
Libya, on
which Inner
City Press
asked whether
the recent
slew of
good-news
press
statements by
the UN
Secretary
General, the
Security
Council and
many states
really mean
that the
corner has
been turned,
Ambassador
Braun called
the situation
an“uphill
struggle” but
said that UN
envoy Martin
Kobler (who
separately
told Inner
City Press he
has a return
ticket to the
German foreign
ministry, video here) has “offered the
right
instruments.”

On Burundi,
Germany's
Ambassador
Braun said,
“It is
important to
dialogue,
especially
with countries
that have
human rights
issues. We
believe that
in the current
situation it
is right for
the Security
Council to put
pressure on
the government
in Burundi.”

Harald Braun
in UNSC, eye
on 2019-20, UN
Photo/Loey Felipe

And on
North Korea
and its
nuclear test,
Braun said, “I
believe that
China was just
as surprised
as other
Council
members... It
is my
expectation
that China
will agree to
a targeted set
of sanctions.”

On this
last, no draft
has yet been
circulated
even to all
Permanent Five
members of the
Security
Council, they
say. Germany,
along with a
number of
other
countries,
would like to
have such a
seat. The
above are its
positions at
the UN, on
which we'll
have more.
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